Maternal Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavioral Intention after Exposure to Injury Prevention Recommendations in the News Media

Abstract

Introduction: Injury prevention recommendations are frequently presented in the media. Parental understanding and response to these recommendations remain uninvestigated. Methods: A nationally representative sample of 1,081 mothers completed a cross-sectional survey measuring knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intention after watching/reading video news stories and print articles on two child safety topics. Results: Of the 1,081 respondents, 33% reported hearing little about injury prevention in the media in the past 30 days, and 32% reported never hearing about injury prevention. Nearly one-half (46%) reported the injury prevention studies they had previously read or heard about in the media were confusing to them at least some of the time. The proportion of mothers who recalled the correct key statistic presented in the story varied by safety topic and medium in which the story was presented. A greater proportion of mothers correctly recalled information from the story narrative than the statistics. Mothers also rated the most interesting part of the story differently based on safety topic and medium. A small proportion were not planning to follow the safety recommendations after viewing the news story. Conclusions: There are gaps in making injury news stories understandable and memorable for mothers in order to encourage behavioral change.